As most of you know about 13 months ago I decided to fill out an application that would change my life forever. After 25 or so pages of application, to many doctor visits to count on one hand, and 6 million pages of paper. I was registered for the first Rotary conference where students would be interviewed and paperwork would be reviewed to decide who is accepted and who is not. I didn't really share my plans of going on exchange with many people until after the November conference when I found out I was accepted. On the application there is a page with 40 or so countries listed that each student ranked. My top 5 countries were 1. Australia 2. Argentina 3. Norway 4. Hungary 5. Croatia. They were all over the world because honestly I had no preference where I ended up, from the get go I knew that where ever I ended up I would have the experience of a life-time. Minutes before I turned in my final country choices I was chatting with a friend who spent his exchange year in Hungary and lets just say there was a 1 removed from 14. Hungary and little did I know erasing that tiny little line to put Hungary as #4 would determine that is where I would spend my year. Don't get my wrong there is no part of me that is not excited to go there..but sometimes I wonder if we didn't have a conversation 5 minutes before I turned the sheet in where i would be getting on a plane to in two months:)
So I didn't actually find out where I was going until the February conference in Wawa, Canada. If you want to know the whole truth about that weekend. When they said I was going to Hungary the first thing that popped into my head was "where exactly is Hungary?" I knew very little about the country but still was very excited and the excitement has been building ever since.
It is now June and I have been attempting to learn Hungarian, Found out I will be living in
Pécs, Hungary, and I have been in contact with my first host family. They seem extremely nice and have made me that much more comfortable with the idea that in about 2 months i will be getting on a plane to arrive in an unfamiliar place where I will be spending a year of my life.
With the full support of my family and friends I have a feeling it is going to be a great year. I am leaving a lot behind but in some way it will all be here when I return. I am going to try and keep up on this blog while I'm gone but my forgetfulness and attention span of a puppy may make it a not all that consistent thing...but I will try:)
Thats all for now!
Maggie
